EcoCheetah - 4B Rain Forest Deforestation

Forest
Fight illegal logging
Organize programs to raise awareness about what’s going on in the rainforest.
Restore damaged ecosystems by planting trees on land where forests have been cut down
Establish parks to protect rainforests and wildlife
Support companies that operate in ways that minimize damage to the environment
Try to stop rainforest deforestation to save our world

The Deforestation of our world’s rainforest

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· Biotic Factors
· Insects- Leafcutter Ants- Leafcutter ants do not eat leaves! They use the leaves they carry to help them grow fungus, and that is what they eat.
· Monarch Butterfly- Can’t eat. Drink juices from flowers.
· Morpho Butterfly- Adults drink the juices of rotting fruit using their straw-like proboscis.
· Long Horned Beetle- Decomposer
· Predatory mammals- Jaguar- They hunt reptiles, birds, eggs, and small mammals. They often bury their prey after killing it, in order to eat it later. They hunt mostly at night because they are nocturnal.
· Ocelot- These fast hunters eat small mammals, birds, fish and snakes.
· Other Mammals- Howler Monkey-eats mostly leaves, but occasionally supplements their diet with fruit and bugs.
· Capybara- Eats fruits
· Ant eater- Eats Ants and other small insects
· Reptiles- Anaconda- Eats small and medium mammals along with rodents of various sizes.
· Iguana-Beetles and butterflies.
· Amphibian- Poison Arrow Frog- Poisonous frog that wards animals away with its deadly toxin it eats Ants, Beetles, Young Butterflies and small insects.
· Fish-Piranha- Eats Poison Arrow frog in small bits.
· Birds- Toucan- Eats Fruit and Insects.
Abiotic Factors
· Rainfall/ water- It’s almost always raining in a rainforest. The rainforest get over 80 inches of rain each year. This is about 1 1/2 inches of rain each week. The rain happens more throughout the year in a tropical rainforest.
· Temperature-The temperature in a rainforest never freezes and never gets very hot. The range of temperature in a tropical rainforest is usually between 75° F and 80° F (24-27° C).
· Humidity77-88% every year
· Soil- The soil of a tropical rainforest is only about 3-4 inches thick and is ancient. Once damaged, the soil of a tropical rainforest takes many years to recover. Temperate rainforests have soil that is richer in nutrients, relatively young and less likely to damage.
· Sunlight-affects how much rain a year
· Trees as tall as 200 ft, Amazon-2,123,562 SQ M.

Threats
Forest Fires- Since the mid 1900s, rain forests all over the world have experienced periods of severe drought. One particular drought in 2005, this time fire burned in the Amazon River Valley. Forest fires themselves further decrease rainfall because smoke particle interfere with droplet formation in the clouds.
Source-What If We Do NOTHING? Rainforest Destruction author McLeish
Rainforest’s used to cover 14% of our earth
Now it only covers 6% of the of the earth
Humans are the main cause of rainforest destruction or deforestation. Humans are cutting down rainforests for many reasons, including:

Logging wood for both timber and wood for making fires, newspapers, etc.
Agriculture for both small and large farms;
Land for poor farmers who don't have anywhere else to live;
Grazing land for cattle
Road construction
Expanding human population, for more home
Drilling for oil.
Forest fires

So why Is the rainforest Important?

Help stabilize the world's climate;
Protect against flood, drought, and erosion;
Are a source for medicines and foods;
Support the tribal people.
Supplies a large percent of the world’s oxygen and removes Carbon Dioxide.
provide a home to many plants and animals